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  Question 74. What is adoption? Answer. Adoption is an act of God's free grace, in and for his only begotten Son Jesus Christ, whereby all those who are justified are received into the number of the children of God, have his name put upon them, have the Spirit of his Son given to them, are under his heavenly Father's care and government, have all the privileges of the sons of God, and are made heirs of all the promises, and joint-heirs with Christ in glory.   Galatians 4:4-7 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “ Abba, Father! ” So ​​ you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. Huiodesian means adoption, acceptance as a son, etc. The reason God made the Son of God under the law was to be a sacrif...

  Question 73. How does faith justify a sinner before God? Answer. Faith justifies a sinner before God, not because of other graces which always accompany faith, nor because of good works which are the fruits of faith, nor because the grace of faith, or any other works, are imputed to him as righteousness. Faith is only a means of receiving and applying Christ and his name.   According to the doctrine, faith is only a means of receiving and applying Christ and His name, which means that faith is only a means of approaching the righteousness of God. However, faith is united with Jesus Christ. When a saint believes that he died with Jesus on the cross and was resurrected with the resurrected Jesus, it becomes faith that comes from heaven. Faith itself is Jesus Christ, and faith does not come without denying me. If faith does not come, one is still under the law. Galatians 3:22-23, “ But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ m...

  Question 72. What is justifying faith? Answer. Justifying faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God. By faith he is convinced of his sin and misery, and of the power of neither himself nor any other creature to restore him from his lost condition; and he acknowledges the truth of the promises of the gospel, and by receiving and resting upon Christ and his righteousness, he receives forgiveness of sins, and is accepted and acknowledged as righteous in the sight of God, and is saved. In the doctrine, it is said that faith is realized in the heart of a sinner through the Holy Spirit and the Word. However, the heart of a sinner is a fleshly heart that cannot follow the law of God and is an enemy of God. How can faith from heaven come about? This faith is a faith of the fleshly heart that tries to achieve righteousness through the law. Only when the fleshly heart (the fleshly body) dies can one have faith from heaven. The fact is tha...

  Question 71. How is justification a free act of grace? Answer. Christ, by his own obedience and death, has fully, truly, and sufficiently satisfied the justice of God in behalf of those who are justified; but God has required the satisfaction of them from a surety, providing his only begotten Son as a surety, to impute his righteousness to them. And since he has required nothing else for their justification but faith, which is also his gift, their justification is but a free grace. The obedience of Christ is the death of the cross. The death of the cross is the judgment of God's justice and the price for saving the saints. The saints can be justified by God because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, paid the price on behalf of the saints. The word redemption is the concept of buying a slave by paying a price. From the perspective of the saints, it seems like they received it for free, but since Jesus paid the price and became righteous, the saints become debtors of grace. Romans...

  Question 70. What is justification? Answer. Justification is an act of God's grace freely bestowed upon sinners, whereby he forgives them all their sins, and accepts them as righteous in his sight, not by anything they can do, nor by anything they have done, but only by seeing the perfect obedience and complete atonement of Christ, and imputing the righteousness of Christ to them, and receiving it by faith alone. In order for believers to be justified by God, there must be repentance. There is no salvation without repentance. Repentance is paying a price. Repentance is confessing that one is destined to die to God and must die on the cross with Jesus. Then, God forgives sins and recognizes righteousness. This is the grace of God given to repentant sinners through faith. To be united with Christ is to be united with his death and resurrection on the cross. According to the doctrine, “ only by seeing the perfect obedience and complete atonement of Christ, the righteousness of...

  Question 69. What is the communion of grace that the members of the invisible church have with Christ? Answer. The communion of grace that the members of the invisible church have with Christ is their justification, adoption, sanctification, and the various benefits they receive in this life through their union with Christ, which come from their participation in the efficacy of his mediation.   The church does not mean a building, but a temple built in the heart. Jesus said that the temple made of stone would collapse. At the same time that the temple in Jerusalem collapsed, he said that the temple that is visible is not the true temple, but is only a shadow. Hebrews 9:23-24 "It was therefore necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered the sanctuaries made with hands, which are the copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now t...

  Question 68. Are only the elect effectually called? Answer. Only the elect are effectually called. Those who are not elected, although they may be called outwardly by the ministry of the Word, and have some common operation of the Spirit, yet willfully neglect and despise the grace offered to them, and so fall into unbelief, and do not truly come to Jesus Christ. God chooses from among those who are called to be His people. Matthew 22:14 says that many are called, but few are chosen. In Matthew 22:2, “ The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son, ” the king is God. The son is Jesus Christ, and the wedding feast is the wedding feast of the Lamb. The wedding feast of the Lamb refers to taking his bride. Only those who are the bride of Christ among all people in the world can enter the wedding feast. In order to become the bride of Christ, they must die with Jesus and be resurrected with Christ. The wedding feast of the Lamb is becoming one...